23 THINGS - THING 6

TWITTER

Each of the tools you will subscribe to in this  programme should been seen as complimentary and support you in a different way. Twitter is primarily a communications tool that can handle both synchronous (instant) and aysnchronous (delayed) messaging. Twitter can be used:

• To broadcast a plea for assistance or advice to your network
• To disseminate information or upcoming events
• To seek and process feedback on a specific topic
• Current awareness

Keep up to date with traffic incidents, major events or anything where real time information is essential.

As a current awareness tool, Twittter lets you follow, in real time, the highlights of a conference or workshop you have been unable to attend. Nowadays, most conferences will advertise a keyword, called a "hash tag" (#) or delegates will create their own (which may mean that a conference may have more than one tag).

Consider the trade off between information breadth and depth. The more followers you have, the faster information will flow, but  you may be overwhelmed by content. You may need to repeat or "retweet" (RT) requests that have been lost in the overload. 

TERMINOLOGY AND CONVENTIONS

Twitter Handle - your unique username. By creating an account, you will also receive a profile webpage in the format twitter.com/username, which you can use to promote yourself to people outside the twitter network.

@username - Use the @ symbol to search or follow people, eg @BPCLibrary20

Slang - Tweets are limited to 140 characters, including spaces. Therefore slang/short-hand notation is acceptable.

RT -  Retweet (forward) content by others or (repeat) your own content to promote content to the top of your feed.

#Hash tags - assign keywords (hash tags) to your tweets and search for topics of interest. Note that these are not unique and vocabulary is not controlled so a hash tag may return different meanings. When creating hash tags for your own topics, keep them brief - they count towards your 140 characters!

Privacy - Although Twitter is designed to encourage networking, you may wish to maintain a closed account. Go to account settings and select "protect my tweets" at the bottom of the page. You will then have the option to approve followers. In addition, your followers will not be able to RT (forward on) your comments.

If somebody chooses to follow you, explore their profile for similar interests and see if any interesting people or organisations follow or are followed by them. If their profile is relevant, consider following them back. In this way your network begins to expand.

If you notice a feed has not been updated for a while, it may not be worth following. Note, unlike some other social media, there ares no social mores attached to the act of "unfollowing" and people will not be offended if you delete them from your list.

TIP: Tweets are limited to 140 characters. (including spaces). If linking to a website, consider shortening any long URLs via tools such as Bit.ly.com, goo.gl or Tiny URL.

Google can also create a QR code for your link.

By creating an account, you will also receive a profile webpage in the format twitter.com/username, which you can use to promote yourself to people outside the twitter network.

The Challenge

Create (or resurrect) a Twitter account and Tweet your involvement in 23 Things (in 140 characters or less!)

Request and invite to follow the closed-group bpc library staff twitter account twitter.com/bpc-lib20

Blog about your experiences and recommend three Twitter feeds worth following.

Stuck for ideas about who to follow? Click here for some suggestions.

Additional Challenge

CONFERENCE ALERT: You noticed that the Info Lit Group's Annual Confence was held in Manchester on 13th May 2013. You were interested in the Conference, but were unable to attend. Review what happened through the Twitter updates. Discuss some of the outcomes on your blog.